Battle Report (Chaos Space Marines vs Chaos Daemons)

A thousand times a thousand banners fluttered in the noisome breeze adding to the cacophony of the vile host that carried them. A swarm of crimson warp-flesh festooned with serrated horns and clad in bronze that jarred with the mechanical landscape of the Iron Fields. The daemonic hosts of the Blood God had come to undo the great work of Warsmith Haeshulth which Khorne saw as an affront to the natural order of things in The Eye. Through ruthlessness and guile the Iron Warriors had wrested control of the Iron Fields and erected their maddening fortifications. The fortress had more in common with a refinery than any grand redoubt of The Breaker’s making. The smog-benighted expanse of the Iron Fields was so named due to the profusion of deep promethium wells bringing forth from the deep earth the liquid fire that was the source of Haesulth’s power.

The other traitor legions paid the Iron Warriors well in both slaves and war spoils for access to the very essence that fuelled their starships and allowed them to incinerate the unworthy corpse-emperor’s servants. This pocket of relative peace, in which thousands of slaves died daily in their ceaseless toil under the uncaring gaze of the Iron Warriors, raised Khornes ire. That a daemon world within the unblinking eye of chaos should so closely mimic the workings of the false imperium was reason enough to let slip His legions. Even now, Haesulth marshalled his forces, acutely aware that Perturabo’s Legion could not stop this blood tide but that if they could flee with one last shipment of promethium then they could find their place in the forces of the Warmaster.

Look at this… just look at this… isn’t this table amazing! Well apart from this amazing board set up with terrain from our friends at JMD Scenery we have more awesome stuff happening… our new Iron Warriors painted by out friends at Bandua Wargames making their debut! Boom! The team couldn’t wait to see what these guys could do and it was Steven & Nick who would play the game (classic SN fight both being the co-founders). Steven would control the new guys whilst Nick would play with his great Khorne Daemon army.With all the team thrilling to start we just had to admire this classic look table….. after admiring this for a bit more we decided to play a Primary, and secondary mission. Purge the Alien being the Primary 7pts. Crusade being the secondary 5pts.Objectives Prometheum waste barrels, perfect for setting things ablaze, in true chaos fashion.Objectives Some fantastically painted by Lawrence storage units containing Imperium property. Weapons maybe?With both players ready to start we rolled for night fighting, warlord traits and then the first turn roll. Steven wins the deployment roll and opts to deploy first to get the alpha strike on the daemons.The Rhino deploys on the far right on the board with the Chaos space marine troops embarked.The crazed Hellbrutes deploy mid-board waiting to crush daemons with their duel power fists! Awesome sight!The Lord with his retinue of Mutilators deploy on the right with a Rhino & Chaos Space Marine unit. Yes Mutilators I know… here at SN we love to play with units which aren’t really seen on the table a lot and to tell you the truth these guys used right pack a big punch; adding mark of Nurgle like Steven has done makes them even better.The Vindicator deploys mid board with another unit of Chaos Space Marines to hold the centre weapons cache objective. Is Steven spreading his forces out a bit too much or is this a plan? Interesting to see what kind of movement Steven opts in his first turn. Btw love that Vindicator!Nick responds to Stevens deployment. The herald and his unit of Blood crushers deploy on the left flank.Remnants of the Imperium still present on this, now, Chaos ravaged battle field.Arguably the most versatile unit Daemons have, scout forward in search of its prey.SEIZE THE INITIATIVE! Nick trys to seize the initiative, but, failing horribly on his roll. So here we go! Hold on to your seats this looks like it’s going to be a messy close combat game. Well I hope it is….Iron Warriors (Turn 1) The Hellbrutes lunge forward as they see Daemons flickering in and out of reality in the distance!Iron Warriors (Turn 1) The Lord and his retinue move forward. Lets see how the Mutilators, supposedly one of the worst units in 40k, perform.Iron Warriors (Turn 1) Boom! The Vindicator moves forward and fires his demolisher at the Lesser Daemons of Khorne blowing 5 straight back to the warp. Go Iron Warriors! Yes I’m supporting the new guys! (Although tbh my support is usually the kiss of death so maybe I should pretend I’m supporting the Demons… tactics!)Iron Warriors (Turn 1) The havoc Launcher and Lord fire at the Blood Letter unit but only succeed in fuelling further Khorne’s minion’s rage…Chaos Daemons (Turn 1) The Herald and his unit thunder forward! Using the Grimoire in the process on the Flesh Hounds. Great sight to see these guys rushing forward I just love these models but do feel they need a better toughness and surely a 3 or 4+ armour! what do you guys think?Chaos Daemons (Turn 1) 3+ invulnerable – Toughness 4 – 2 wounds? OUCH! Yep this is how these guys are rolling down the board on turn 1 and will be running down the battlefield in turn 2….. Nick changing the bases to the round bases making them even more deadly as they now cover a lot more of the area.Chaos Daemons (Turn 1) Warp Storm! AMAZINGLY the first warp storm roll is a double 6 meaning 2D6 + 3 Blood Letters are immediately summoned from the Warp. A sign of things to come? Also a first for us, Nick has played hundreds of games with his Daemons and never rolled a double 6 on the warp storm so he did scream like a little girl… sorry like a man, he screamed like a man 😉Chaos Daemons (Turn 1) Nick only rolling a 3 meant that a unit of 6 blood letters arrived 6″ from the Chaos Icon on his right flank creating even more of threat on that side of the battlefield. These guys are not that durable but get them into combat and they are deadly, even more when all your 3+ armour is useless.Chaos Daemons (Turn 1) Though an uneventful turn 1, the upper hand goes to Nick early on with 60pts extra on the battle field than he started with or is it an easy kill point awarded to the Iron Warriors?….. either which way…Daemon shenanigans! Both armies looking stunning and this photo making a story all by itself.Iron Warriors (Turn 2) Steven rolls on for his reserves and passes his reserve roll with ease after rolling a 5. Helldrake comes in on the right to start denting the Blood Crusher unit. Heldrake looking amazing with his Iron Warriors paint job.Iron Warriors (Turn 2) The fearless Chaos Space Marine unit disembark from their transport and also aim there bolters toward the Blood Crushers. Great pic!Iron Warriors (Turn 2) The Vindicator moves back towards the table edge and aims its cannon towards the Hounds. Whilst the Hellbrutes have also found their target as they move towards the hounds. The Marines also move up to rapid fire their bolter payload. Will all these units firing be enough to send these dogs back to the warp?Iron Warriors (Turn 2) The Rhino moves up right to block off the Daemon Prince and unloads its passengers to rapid fire their bolters into the Lord Of Blood. The Lord moves up left to assault the newly arrived blood letters. Let’s see what these guys can do. They have a 2+ save so those BloodLetters and their ap3 weapons will not have an easy job.Iron Warriors (Turn 2) The Rhino and Marines fire into the Lord of Blood removing one wound from the rage seething Daemon. Could have been better but Nick’s saving rolls proved too good.Iron Warriors (Turn 2) The right flank saw the marines and Helldrake inflict 4 unsaved wounds on the Herald’s unit killing 1 and leaving the Banner of Blood bearer with 2 wounds. Good Shooting.Iron Warriors (Turn 2) The vindicator fires his demolisher once again this time targeting the quickly encroaching hounds in attempt to instant kill a few with his strength 10 blast. Landing a direct hit inflicting 7 wounds but Nick rolling like a pro saved every single wound. Nick shenanigans again his Daemon’s save rolling is just insane every game. Steven not a happy bunny. Casino dice may be purchased soon… The Hellbrute and Marine unit also fire but Nick’s saves proving too much for the Chaos Bolters only inflicting 2 wounds which Nick also saves.Iron Warriors (Turn 2) The Hellbrutes assault into the flesh hounds. AV 12 front on the Walkers of Chaos mean the fearless hounds are stuck for the time being not being able to damage the fierce Hellbrutes. Steven’s 8 attacks at strength 10 saw not a single hound die as Nick once again saves every wound with cool rolling skills, or something like that (Nick is forcing me to say that). Will someone please check those dice….. On the other side of the board we see the Mutilators and lord easily finish off the newly deepstriked bloodleter squad. See Mutilators can do damage… sometimes…Chaos Daemons (Turn 2) A terrifying sight… who else but Skarbrand enters play from reserve. As he lands 6″ from a banner of blood he doesn’t scatters from deepstrike. Instant threat and headache for Steven. Great new model btw.Chaos Daemons (Turn 2) Nick Starts to move his Bloodletters forward towards the newly disembarked Marines. If that Unit get to assault that is going to hurt Steven’s flank quite a lot as they don’t stand a chance with those deadly a3 attacksChaos Daemons (Turn 2) The other reserve Bloodletter squad enters play and also doesn’t scatter due to the Banner on the Juggernaught squad.Chaos Daemons (Turn 2) Nick’s Juggenaughts jump down from the Factory building one failing a dangerous terrain test but they all still make it through the fence and gallop towards the disembarked Marines. Awesome sight!Chaos Daemons (Turn 2) Things get even better for nick as he rolls on the Warpstorm and the Gods award him with a 10 giving all Daemons on the board a +1 Invulnerable save…Awesome!Chaos Daemons (Turn 2) The Herald again uses his Grimoire of true names on the Hounds, and yes you guessed right this squad now has a 2+ Invulerable save… say cheeseChaos Daemons (Turn 2) For the Blood God!!! Charge!!!! The Bloodletter squad assaults the Marines whilst the Daemon Prince assaults Steven’s warlord and Mutilators. Steven sorry but this is going to hurt.Chaos Daemons (Turn 2) On the other side of the battlefield things are not looking bright either as the Juggernaughts also charge into a different unit of Marines….Chaos Daemons (Turn 2) Ouch! The Marine squad is completely destroyed and with ease…. See what I mean these guys hit so hard but are sadly not durable against shooty armies like Tau or EldarChaos Daemons (Turn 2) Finally Nick fails one of his 2+ saves and loses a hound, but then manage to pass his deamonic instability test. Steven was hoping for some more fatalities on this combat that for sure. Any other unit would have been close or even destroyed by now by these two mechanical beasts but these Invul saves are just saving Nick constantlyChaos Daemons (Turn 2) The high initiative Daemon Prince slashes with his Axe of Khorne and manages to get 3 6’s which mean three instant death wounds on this unit Steven opts to try and save them with his Lord as he does have a better Invul save of a 4+ but nope… his first roll is a 2 so the Lord is instantly killed followed by two other saves of a 1 and a 3 instantly removing two of the mutilators as well. The third mutilator hits back with a duel power fist but Nick passes his 4+ invul save. Ouch! I think I see a tear in Steven’s eye.Iron Warriors (Turn 3) Ok let’s see what Steven can do in his crucial turn 3. Steven needs to hit back and hard and try to weaken these powerful units all around. His Helturkey…sorry I ment heldrake flies over Skarbrand vector striking him and removing a wound. Good start! Come on you can do this!Iron Warriors (Turn 3) Amazing picture. The Vindicator moves back and picks its target which is again Skarbrand. If I tell you the truth that model looks so intimidating I don’t see it weird everything is going for it lol Steven fires its deadly blast getting a direct hit again and wounding the beast removing a further wound leaving Nick getting a bit nervous.Iron Warriors (Turn 3) Steven moves his marine squad up leaving the objective behind and focusing more on killing the beast. He shoots everything at Skarbrand hoping to finish him off but an awful set of rolls sees no wounds inflicted.Iron Warriors (Turn 3) This crazy assault goes on with again no “instant death” wounds managing to send any hounds back to where they belong after some brilliant saves AGAIN by Nick. We would love to see these guys attacks go up to 4 like the Space Marine Dreads now have. Fingers crossed.Iron Warriors (Turn 3) The Daemon Prince finishes the last Mutilator off with some more brutal attacks hitting and wounding 4 times with Steven failing all 4 5+ saves… Just beside the combat carries on with the Bloodletters killing off 4 more marines leaving the Champion by himself.Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) Nick’s Final Bloodletter unit enters play from reserve via deepstrike scattering off 10″ but landing in a open area….Lucky Boy! Thus creating an instant threat to the Marines in front.Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) Nick starts moving his army up…… Can anybody spot the other New Studio army?Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) The Newly deepstriked unit runs forward spreading themselves out and getting within a few inches of the Marine squad. Lucky for Steven they can’t assault this turn. On the left hand side of the picture we see the Daemon Prince jump over the rhino ready to assault… and only dealing a crew shaken! The Warp storm saw Grandfather Nurgle bless the battle field with Nurgles Rot… but affecting no one.Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) Nick’s Fierce Juggernaughts of Khorne charge into the Rhino………. The Hammer of Wrath removing a hull point even before they attack with their weapons.Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) Boom! As easy as pie the unit wrecks the Rhino.Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) Skarbrand moves forward to get the hounds out of combat! What a sight!Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) Skarbrand making quick work of the crazed Hell brutes cutting them in half with carnage like no ones business! 9 attacks on the charge with armour bane saw plenty of penetrating hits.Chaos Daemons (Turn 3) 17 hits from both exploding hellbrutes! But Nick once again making 5+ saves seem like terminator armour! Only 2 hounds died from these 9 wounds!Iron Warriors (Turn 4) The shaken Rhino moves toward the objective in a last ditch effort to capture it! But with the daemon Prince hot on his trail…. will he be able to accomplish this??!Iron Warriors (Turn 4) The Helldrake hovering to best make use of his flamer to kill the seemingly invincible hounds! He kills a hound and takes a wound from Skarbrand. Yep Skarbrand only has 2 wounds remaining.Iron Warriors (Turn 4) BOOM the Vindicator fires at the un-grimoired hounds! this is going to be a painful one. The shot scattered slightly only killing 1 hound and yet another wound taken from Skarbrand leaving him on one!Iron Warriors (Turn 4) The marines fire in to the last remaining hounds, Steven is hoping to remove that rapid moving thorn in his side. …but one remains behind! And now bloodletters begin to approach from the rear! This is going to be painful.Iron Warriors (Turn 4) The combat on the left finally saw the remaining bloodletters victorious removing the aspiring champion! One single AP 3 wound was all that was needed…Chaos Daemons (Turn 4) WIth not much left on the table the Iron warriors pass the turn to Daemons. Everything moves towards the last remaining Marine unit, the Vindicator and the Helldrake. Warp storm, being a chaos warpy timey wimey thingy is… calm… this time.Chaos Daemons (Turn 4) Skarbrand hopes to make quick work of the drake! 9 attacks with hatred and Armour bane I suppose you all know whats going to happen to the Hell Turkey?Chaos Daemons (Turn 4) The Bloodletters assault into the marines while the last remaining hounds head toward the VIndicator in search of vengeance. The Letters make quick work of the marines as they have Rage and Hatred due to Skarbrand being near by. The Marines also have Hatred for the same reason killing 2 Lesser Daemons of Khorne.Chaos Daemons (Turn 4) The Grudge match continues! The daemon prince FINALLY mustering up the strength to kill the Rhino seeing it wrecked from a Hammer of Wrath and other attacks!Chaos Daemons (Turn 4) Bye Bye Hell Turkey……. as I said lets just say the explosion didn’t wound Skarbrand……Iron Warriors (Turn 5) The Hounds fail to hurt the VIndicator, no surprise. So the vindicator put one last shot in to the back of Skarbrand….. punching a hole straight through his chest and making a smouldering where the Greater Daemon, ex- Chosen of Khorne, once stood! He manages to remove his last wound Nick, for once, not being able to make his 5+ Daemon Save! SLAY THE WARLORD!Chaos Daemons (Turn 5) Uh Oh……. The Blood Crushers and Herald make their way to the last remaining unit of the Iron Warriors to avenge their fallen Lord. Seeing the herald deal three glancing hits with his strength 7 attacks on the charge putting an end to the strength 10 Blast mania and an end to the Iron Warriors on this Battle field!.Nick: What a fight! That Vindicator had me shaking in my boots most the time, EVEN KILLING MY WARLORD LAST TURN! But, at least for most of my units, I can some how make 5+ invulnerable saves better than my Grey Knights power armour! Which is what kept me in the game. The hounds did just simply not go down easy either! keeping those hellbrutes locked in combat long enough for Skarbrand to waltz in and make quick work of the Warp engines. New Skarbrand model, new style of play! With the Bloodcrushers also making a mark on the battle field only losing one! Safely the vindicator had bigger things to worry about if not I think the toughness four Juggernauts would have bitten the dust… Hope you enjoyed another SN battle report, I sure did! Happy hunting. NIckSteven: Kaboom that was awesome…. yes I know I got tabled but loved every bit of it (fetish maybe) getting used to loosing now hahaha. For starters playing with this awesome new Iron Warriors army painted by the fantastic guys at Bandua Wargames was already a win they just look sooooo cool. I knew I was up against a very tough opponent and army and being new to this army I did make some mistakes which proved vital having those Helbrutes stuck in combat so long meant I didn’t get to see what they can actually do this didn’t help when Nick’s saving sorcery kept them alive for so long any other games those Hounds wound have been defeated with the help of the Daemonic Instability rule. Those Bloodletter ap3 weapons are also very powerful against power armour and they were just everywhere. All in all a classic battle against Nick like always a pleasure to have a game against this guy but now to change my list a bit more and add some stronger units and hopefully kick some butt soon. Steven